In numerous research and clinical laboratories it is often necessary to uncap and reinstall caps on scintillation vials and the like. The researcher and clinician heretofore have removed and installed the caps by hand manipulation, a tedious and time-consuming technique. It is not unknown to take as long as one-half an hour to remove, to store and to reinstall about 133 caps.
During filling of the vials, spillage can often occur. The materials spilled and remaining in contact with the outside of the vials can be radioactive or have other characteristics making it undesirable for a person to touch the vials.
Automatic capping and cap-lifting machines have heretofore been known, but have not been used to any appreciable extent in laboratories.
An automatic capping machine for bottles has been disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,623,292 to Barnes which provides for a conveyor to move a line of bottles into a capping station which includes a plurality of cap-rotating units consisting of opposed rotating members disposed in close relation to the path of travel of the caps already in position on top of the moving bottles. A belt is positioned over the caps as they move through the capping station to force the caps downwardly onto the bottles. While this particular known bottle capping machine is very suitable for industrial purposes, it is clear that the bottles which are to be capped must be moved through a capping station on a conveyor and must be held against rotation. This particular known capping machine is not readily adaptable to laboratory use and would require the vials to be removed and placed individually on a conveyor prior to being capped, special instrumentalities being provided to hold the vials against rotation.
An apparatus for removing caps from containers is known from the U.S. Pat. No. 2,650,748 to Bennett et al., which like the capping machine disclosed in the aforementioned patent to Barnes, requires the bottles to be arranged individually on a moving conveyor which moves the bottles one after another into a cap-lifting station in which the caps are removed one at a time. Here again, this known cap-lifting machine requires the use of a conveyor and requires the placement of individual bottles on the conveyor. It is also clear that only one bottle is uncapped at any one time.